Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 20 09 PM Subject: [PABRADFO] ANCESTORS > > > WHY WE HAVE TROUBLE FINDING OUR ANCESTORS > > by Jenny Calvin <[email protected]> > > My grandmother (born a Burgess), now age 91, has been very > helpful and patient with all my family history questions. > However, doing census searches in between asking her questions > sheds some light on why we have trouble finding those elusive > ancestors. > > Armed with a list of her daddy's siblings in random order, I > began my search. Very few of the names matched those on the > census, so I went back to ask her more questions: > > "Do you think 'Mary J.' in the census could be your Aunt Mae?" > "I don't know -- her name was Mary, but we always called her > Mae." Score 1! > > "Do you think 'Nancy M' could be your Aunt Minnie?" > "Could be. I was named after her." Score? > > "Was Uncle Lee's first name Walter? There is a Walter L. in the > census." > "I don't know. I never saw him but once or twice. He lived in > McKinney, Texas." (Information from another researcher showed a > Walter L. in McKinney, Texas.) Score 1! > > "I haven't been able to find Sam, Arlene, and John Haley in any > of the censuses." > "Oh! They were my daddy's half-siblings! His second wife was > named Ella, Pappy called her Miss Ella, and she out-lived Pa > Burgess." (They apparently married in the late 1890s and were > never in a census together; Pa Burgess died in January of 1900, > before Ella and the three children were counted in the census > in April; she was 37 years younger than he was, so I never would > have guessed her to be his wife.) Score 3! > > "I can't find your Uncle Jack in any census, but there is a > Millard living with your daddy who is listed as his brother." > "Uncle Jack didn't like his name, so he changed it. He moved to > Amarillo, Texas." Score 1! > > "In the 1910 census, there is a 5-month-old named Margrette, but > that's how old your sister Ellen should have been." > > "Pappy wanted to name her Margrette, but Mama wanted to name her > Ellen Rose. Her name really is Ellen Rose, but Pappy called her > Margrette most of the time, and we all just called her Baby." > (Guess who answered the census-taker's questions?) Score 1! > > These are just a few examples. Is it any wonder we can't find > our ancestors? What a blessing it is still to have my > grandparents to ask. Be sure to ask questions of your living > relatives -- when they're gone, so much information is gone > with them. > > > > >